It was there on my knees crawling along with my scrub brush that I began to think about the family who had lived in this house before. I found a quarter peeking out from the edge of the baseboard and pocket it. I'm up about 86 cents since we started. See? This house is already turning a profit! But back to the history of the house. I wonder about the previous family.
In no time at all thirty minutes had passed and two men from the water department arrived to turn on our water out at the street. After ensuring nothing came gushing out at the valve down in the basement, I thanked them at the door. The one in the neon jacket told me he'd been in the house multiple times turning the water back on for them. I explained that the house had been foreclosed on when we purchased so that kind of made sense. He mentioned the previous owner had driven a little volvo. That struck me as so odd that he would remember that little detail. The family is now gone from the house, but not forgotten as it's residents. As we peel back the layers from the house, we get to see a little glimpse into the lives they lived in this house too.
Now back to the work we're doing. The main bathroom had powder blue tiles going halfway up the walls. I spent some time chipping them off with a hammer and pry bar one at a time. Every once in a while, I would hit the jackpot and four tiles would come off at once! Underneath the blue tile I was surprised to find... more tile! But this tile was flush with the drywall so I left it. We will tile over it with something fresh. The bottom layer of tile was originally white before being painted a burgundy color and then a minty green color on top of that before it was finally tiled over with the light blue tiles. Whew! That's a lot of styles for one bathroom. I ripped out the linoleum floor next. Daniel took out the vanity, toilet and pried out the rusty inserts from the built in medicine cabinet. We'll be trying to salvage the tub with a good deep clean and just spruce it up with new controls, spigot and fresh caulk.
Daniel is the true visionary in this marriage. He can always visualize the way something will look in a room. Sometimes he has an idea and I'm skeptical. I usually give in to his idea and find out he was right and it looks awesome. Here's yet another example. He picked this tile for the bathroom. I wasn't sold on it but we needed to make a decision so I agreed.
I think the floor looks awesome! Here's a little secret. This isn't real tile! It's a stickable vinyl tile that you can grout between. I love it. It was a good price and he got the whole thing done in just a couple hours after church Sunday night. I should know better by now and trust his judgment. After all, he did choose me. :)
Next to go was the wall tile, vanity and linoleum in the master half bath. When he pulled the mirror down, he found a fun little surprise. You can see the original siding from before the master was added on. Neat! This bathroom had pink wall tiles painted over with white. Under the vanity was a layer of the tiny 1" by 1" tiles. The floor must have been this style before they put the linoleum down.
Every single house we have bought has wallpaper that has to go. Wallpaper removal is basically the bane of my existence. For once though, I was pleasantly surprised. I don't know what type of paper this was, but it peeled off extremely quick in large strips. I didn't even have to use the steamer. Under the wallpaper in the hallway, I found some three color sponge rolled paint someone had taken a lot of time to do. I'm pretty happy this paint technique has gone out of style... In this picture, the paint is on the left, a strip of the wallpaper is on the right.
Our biggest concern now is the kitchen floor. Daniel pulled up a layer of linoleum, two sheets of of plywood and a layer of the thick linoleum tiles he had to painstakingly chip up before he finally found that there was indeed hardwood at the bottom of it all. However, the hardwood is covered with some sort of tar glue. We are having all the hardwood floors throughout the house professionally refinished. Yes, this is something we could do ourselves. But we just don't have the time before our move date. So we'll trust the pros with that job. We're crossing our fingers that they'll be able to sand through this crazy layer of black to get to the wood underneath in the kitchen.
So that's where we are. Just peeling back a little more of the layers of this house each day, discovering more of it's secrets. A house is just a structure with four walls and a roof, right? Yet somehow this little building is so much more. Even with this house, knowing we don't plan to stay in it long and are investing in it with a "business" mindset, I can't seem to hold it at arm's length. Every minute we spend working, planning, cleaning, renovating, I pour a little more of myself into it. It's not just a house. It's a home. And while it may not be our home for too long if things go as planned, it will be someone's home. That's what makes it special. We get to add our own little layer to this home. We become a part of it until someone comes in later and peels our work back just as we're doing now.
Until then, keep dreaming with us!
